The Dark Hour by K.J. Young

Release: May 4th, 2021
Format: Paperback
Publisher: NIGHTSKY PRESS
Source: Suzyapproved Book Tours
Find it at Goodreads, Amazon, Kindle, B&N

Mark Norman can’t catch a break—until two elderly siblings who live at Alden Manor, a run-down mansion mired in the past, hire him as a live-in home health aide. His charges, former stage magicians Roy and Alma Walgrave, give off an eerie vibe, but they are also wealthy and careless with their money. Seizing the opportunity, Mark soon makes himself indispensable to the old folks, losing himself in fantasies of inheriting the Walgrave fortune upon their deaths. When another employee, a young woman named Lisa, shares her dark premonitions and insists that evil lurks in the house, Mark thinks she’s paranoid and unstable.

Until he begins to notice odd, unsettling things himself.

When nightmares begin to plague him, and the house gradually reveals a web of lies and twisted secrets, he can no longer deny the possibility that some sinister force pervades Alden Manor. Losing his mind—or worse, his life terrified him. But he’s so close to landing a big financial windfall that walking away is not an option.

About the Author:

K.J. Young is the pseudonym of an author known for writing heartwarming novels of love, puppies, and the kindness of strangers.

Welcome to her dark side.

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The Dark Hour Review:

I love horror books that rely more on atmospheric tension than chills and gore, and “The Dark Hour” successfully creeped me out!

The author had me hooked on the plot as soon as Mark enters the house. The author beautifully sets the suspenseful tone and maintains it throughout the tale. I sensed what was happening early on, but that didn’t stop me from enjoying the story. Moreover, the author included a few twists and turns that surprised me, as I didn’t expect them. Also, some moments had me at the edge of my seat, like when Mark sees the figure outside the window telling him to come out or when they play the Victrola for the first time and hear what’s in it.

Moreover, the author also wrote the main characters very well. Mark is terrific in the lead. I enjoyed the backstory of the complex relationship he has with his family. I also found Lisa to be exciting and wished we had a back story of her. Even supporting characters like Doug and Nurse Darby creeped me out. But, what genuinely unnerved me about the story was Roy and Alma. The reason being, they are old and harmless in the beginning, yet you sense that something is off. I could feel Lisa’s frustrations when Mark did not feel what she felt when she initially showed him the room.

I felt there were moments where we didn’t get closure to few elements. The examples being Doug’s background and the history of the crows. Nevertheless, I felt these elements added well to the eerieness of the story.

Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed “The Dark Hour” and thought it was a remarkable ‘dark’ story by the author.